Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has accused India of being both “belligerent” and “hegemonic.” She urged the United States to revise its South Asia strategy and stop viewing Pakistan only in relation to New Delhi.
Criticism Over “New Norms” in Cross-Border Strikes
In a conversation with GZERO Media’s Ian Bremmer, Khar spoke about the latest tensions between India and Pakistan. She condemned India for its strikes on Pakistani territory after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. According to her, India is “setting new norms” by taking military action across borders in response to terror incidents.
She said, “India, a very large, what I call a belligerent country, decides that if there is a security lapse in their own territory or if something happens – terrorism is kind of common in South Asia – now the rest of the world also has the right to launch missile strikes into another country, which also happens to be a nuclear state, and not worry about the repercussions and claim to the world that we have set new norms.”
Concern Over Washington’s Tilt Towards India
Khar also criticized Washington’s increasing closeness with India. She argued that the US should not look at Pakistan through what she described as an “Indian lens.”
She stressed, “I think the United States of America started viewing Pakistan exclusively from the Indian lens. … I think there is a reality check in the United States of America about how Pakistan must not be viewed from the Indian lens, which is exceptionally belligerent towards Pakistan…”
According to her, Pakistan still holds “relevance” for America and should be valued for its independent role in the region.
Strong Defense of Ties With China
The former foreign minister also defended Pakistan’s relationship with China. She rejected Western criticism and insisted that Beijing remains a “force of stability” for Pakistan and its neighborhood.
Khar noted that Pakistan and China have had deep and strategic ties for decades. At the same time, she said Pakistan also maintained strong ties with the US during that period, but the world ignored China until it emerged as a global competitor.
She remarked, “In the last 10 years, the world has started noticing Pakistan and China’s strong strategic ties… Suddenly, where China is feeling and seeming like a threat to the world because of its emerging economic power, technological power, and perhaps military power, which is nowhere compared to the US, we view China in a very different way.”
China as an Economic Partner
Khar praised China’s role in financing infrastructure projects when institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank reduced their involvement.
She added, “Within Pakistan and within the broader region, China has been a force of stability and a force of economics, so to be able to give the type of economic goods and infrastructure which were no longer available from the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank, China came in and wanted to do it in a really big way.”
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